Spring is finally here! The maple trees on Lost Lake Road are bursting with buds, and our first thunderstorm on April 30 left the ground littered with birch and poplar catkins. Did you know catkin is a loanword from the old Dutch kattteken meaning kitten, due to the resemblance to a kitten's tail? Catkin bearing trees include birch, poplar, hazel, alder, willow, and walnut.

On Saturday, April 28, I returned to the lake after a couple of days in "the Cities", and the wood frogs were starting to make a bit of noise in two of the frog ponds on our road. Today there was a loud chorus coming from all three frog ponds. It sounded like the majority were wood frogs with a few spring peepers joining in.

The ice went out on Upper Gull on April 30th! Woohoo! During the night loons are calling from all ends of the lake. Falling asleep to the sounds of the loon symphony....heaven!